Google seals Twitter search deal

Follows Microsoft into real-time search show

Hours after Microsoft announced that it had come to a deal with Twitter to show its real-time status data in its search, Google has followed suit.

Microsoft got to the announcement of the addition of Twitter data first, but with the internet still reeling, Google quickly revealed its own deal with the microblogging site.

A statement by Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products, confirmed the deal blogging: "At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged - real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Announcement

"Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results," she continued

"We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months.

"That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favourite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information."

The arrival of two announcements back to back is, of course, no coincidence, although Microsoft will feel that it has won a small victory by showing off the technology at the Web 2.0 conference and getting the news out first.

Microsoft also announced that Facebook data would be made available through its Bing search engine at an as yet unspecified later date.

However, with many Facebook status updates private, it remains to be seen how much value this will add in the long run compared to the more open Twitter.